Book Summary and Reviews of All the Beastly Things by Eilish Quin

Book Summary

In a post-apocalyptic matriarchy that has erased men and capitalism, a young novitiate destined for greatness faces a crisis of faith when her best friend begins receiving mysterious visions of an archangel—setting her on a path to choose between spiritual purity and human desire.

The year is 2171, and the Earth is not what it once was. The natural world reigns supreme, wild and ungovernable, after a series of wasting plagues and unmitigated climate disasters, the twin coups of fascism and AI, and a final, catastrophic nuclear fallout. Small monastic communities have emerged from the carnage—self-sufficient, female-only religious utopias governed by a strict codex and surrounded by walls to keep the wilds at bay. The new world is harmonious, and blissfully free from structures of oppression such as hierarchy, capitalism, and time.

Seventeen-year-old Igraine has never known life beyond the cloistered walls of the Field or seen a human male. Brilliant and devout, she spends her days in the gardens and scriptorium beside her closest companion, Ophelia. Their studies will culminate in twin posts at the Lunar Abbey—a gothic cathedral on the Moon reserved for the most venerated Sisters.

Their futures fracture when Ophelia begins receiving visions of a mysterious, alluring, and damningly masculine archangel. As doubt spreads and rumors surface about the Order's darker forces, the girls venture beyond the convent's walls and into the wilderness—while navigating the volatility of their deepening bond.

When Igraine's formidable mentor, Sister Agathe, takes a romantic interest in her, devotion blurs into jealousy and illicit desire. In the aftermath, Igraine must confront her unraveling faith in a system that demands her complete surrender.